“It’s a sad day for Alaska, and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family. The verdict shines a light though on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight. And that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service. And as governor of the state of Alaska, I’ll carefully monitor now the situation and I’ll take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime I do ask that the people of Alaska join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system, and I’m confident that Senator Stevens, from this point on, will do the right thing for the state of Alaska.”

Oh? And on what basis would she believe that he “will do the right thing for the state of Alaska”? And why won’t the campaign state whether it favors Stevens’ re-election?

Update: We now know, a day later, what “do the right thing” means. Hours after John McCain called for Stevens to resign, Palin did the same thing.

“After being found guilty on seven felony counts, I had hoped Senator Stevens would take the opportunity to do the statesman-like thing and erase the cloud that is covering his Senate seat. He has not done so,” Palin said in a statement released by the campaign this afternoon. “Alaskans are grateful for his decades of public service but the time has come for him to step aside.”

Palin added that even if Sen. Stevens is re-elected next Tuesday, he should “step aside to allow a special election to give Alaskans a real choice of who will serve them in Congress.”